St. John of the Cross, Doctor of Mystical Theology

On the life, writings and spirituality of St. John of the Cross, priest and doctor of the Church

St. John of the Cross, 1542-1591 A.D.: considered today to be the greatest mystical theologian in the history of the Church; he is known as the Doctor of Mystical Theology.

Biographical sketch

Juan de Yepes y Alvarez, popularly known as St. John of the Cross, was born at Fontiveros, Castile, Spain, in June 24, 1542 A.D. - the youngest of three children. He entered the Carmelites at Medina when he was 21 years old - taking the religious name John of Saint Matthias. In that monastery, he wanted to remain as a lay brother, but the Carmelites insisted that he become a priest. So he studied theology for three years in the University of Salamanca, and was ordained in 1567 A.D.

After St. John of the Cross was ordained, he was granted permission to follow the original rule of Albert of Vercelli (1209 A.D.) which stressed strict discipline and solitude. In 1568 A.D., the first Sunday of Advent, together with St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross opened the first monastery of the newly reformed Discalced Carmelites - whose members were committed to a perfect spirit of solitude, humility and mortification. [It was at this time that he changed his religious name from John of Saint Matthias to John of the Cross].

After founding the Discalced Carmelites Order, his reform activities angered some old Carmelites. They accused him of rebellion, and had him arrested and put in a small cell. But it was in this prison cell that he wrote two of his fine works: The Spiritual Canticle and The Living Flame of Love. St. John of the Cross was in prison only for nine months. He was able to escape and seek refuge in a monastery of El Calvario at Andalusia.

In 1579 A.D., St. John of the Cross became rector of the college at Baeza. Then in 1585 A.D., in the general chapter, he was elected the superior of the Discalced Carmelites.

Towards the end of his life, St. John of the Cross became ill. He died in December 14, 1591 A.D. at the age of 49 years old in a friary at Ubeda. His works were published after his death. This works included The Ascent of Mount Carmel and The Dark Night of the Soul. In December 14, 1675 A.D., St. John of the Cross was beatified by Pope Clement X. Canonization was by Pope Benedict XIII in December 14, 1726 A.D. And in December 14, 1926 A.D. he was declared doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII.

Teaching and spirituality

St. John of the Cross was a great mystic, poet and writer. He tried to translate into language his mystical experience. He did this through poetry and his commentaries. The mystical experience of St. John of the Cross took him into the very depths of his being. St. Edith Stein, a modern Carmelite disciple of St. John of the Cross, said that "...it is through poetry that the soul is most adequately described..."

Through his own poetic genius, St. John of the Cross was able to recreate his experience of God in symbolism that evokes for others a taste of this experience. A most often used symbol is the heart which St. John of the Cross also used.

This symbol of the heart is represented in his poem "The Living Flame of Love". It can be found in the fourth and final stanza:

"How gently and lovingly
You wake in my heart
Where in secret You dwell alone;
And in your sweet breathing,
Filled with good and glory,
How tenderly You swell my heart with love!

St. John of the Cross is considered one of the classic sources of Catholic spirituality. John Paul II made a study on him and quotes him several times in Crossing the Threshold of Hope. The works and writings of St. John of the Cross are all representative of Biblical tradition, because he used the heart to symbolize a full range of inner human realities and activities. Through the symbol of the heart, St. John of the Cross explored the soul: what it is, what its capacities are, and what it does.

Excerpts from his writings

That heart symbolized the human heart that is attached to worldly things. To undertake the journey to God, the heart must be burned and purified of all creatures with the fire of divine love [The Ascent of Mount Carmel]

The soul, desiring to be possessed by this immense God, for love of whom she feels her heart is robbed and wounded, unable to endure her sickness any longer, deliberately asks Him in this stanza to show her His beauty...she makes this request by displaying before Him the sickness and yearning of her heart [The Spiritual Canticle]

Visionaries, Stigmatists and Incorruptibles (Part One)

Introduction

This Series of blog posts will feature a selection of saints and blesseds who were visionaries (those who saw the Lord or the Blessed Virgin Mary in an apparition), stigmatists (those who bore in their physical bodies the wounds of the Crucified Lord), and those whose remains continue to be incorrupt from the time of their death up to the present time. Because of the limitations of this research, it cannot cover all the saints and blesseds who have been chosen by the Lord as instruments of His divine power, to be visionaries, stigmatists and whose remains have been kept intact up to this contemporary age.

A study not meant to lessen the significance of God's power and presence in the ordinary

Although this Series will study God's power in the extraordinary, the study is not meant to detract the reader from the importance of God's goodness and presence in daily and ordinary living. God's power also irrupts in the most insignificant tasks and situations people of faith find themselves doing: like seeing the sun rise after attending the early morning Mass; witnessing the birth of a firstborn child; seeing an elderly woman recover her speech after a stroke; receiving the kindness and generosity of strangers; and many more commonplace experiences - commonplace yet also charged with the splendor of God's goodness and mercy. This blog post however will seek to only inform the reader that God sometimes chooses a few of His servants to magnify His divinity and power for a special purpose.

Visionaries

God reveals Himself many times to His children in their daily life; most especially in the celebration of Word and Sacrament. However, in the history of the Catholic faith, He sometimes reveals Himself to a select number of His servants. These are the visionaries who receive messages from God, and who are asked to make the messages of the vision known to all people. These visionaries are either witnesses of an apparition of Christ or the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Many saints and blesseds also witnessed apparitions of saints and angels, but this study will examine only those apparitions of Jesus and His Mother). One common experience of these visionaries is the suffering they feel from the disbelief and doubts of their family members, townsmen, or companions. They are privileged to see Christ or Mary, and to receive important messages from them. But the people around them and the Church authorities are often skeptical and will surely investigate their claims of "seeing". Almost all visionaries are asked by the people and the Church for a sign or proof that they are indeed "seeing" Christ or Mary and receiving messages from them.

Visionaries of the Blessed Virgin

Three popular visionaries of the Blessed Virgin are: St. Bernadette Soubirous, St. Catherine Labouré, and St. Juan Diego. The first two are French women, while the third is a North American native of Mexico.

St. Bernadette Soubirous

Bernadette was just fourteen years old when Mary revealed herself to the young girl as the "Immaculate Conception". Since the young Bernadette was unlettered and simple, she had to overcome the skepticism, ridicule, and harrassment from her townsmen in Lourdes, France. But Bernadette was unshakeable in her story that Mary wanted the people to do penance for the conversion of many sinners, and to pray at the site of the apparitions (occuring from February 11 - July 16, 1858 A.D. at the rock of Massabielle, Lourdes). At the site where Mary appeared, there is a hidden spring which produces about 27,000 gallons of water per week. Many miraculous cures were attributed to the water at Lourdes, France.

In 1866 A.D., Bernadette joined the Sisters of Notre Dame of Nevers where she spent the rest of her life. Before and after the events of the apparitions, Bernadette lived a very ordinary and uneventful life. She was canonized as Maria Bernarda in 1933 A.D. not because of her privileged calling as a visionary of Mary, but for her genuine life of prayer, simple devotion, and faithful obedience to the will of God. (The example of St. Bernadette shows that the Church values more the life witness of the visionary rather than the extraordinary events of the apparitions themselves.) Bernadette's life story was made into a novel by Franz Werfel (The Story of Bernadette, 1942 A.D.) and was made into an Oscar-winning movie using the same title.

St. Bernadette Soubirous is an example of the biblical truth that God uses the humble and the lowly for His divine purposes. It was because of Bernadette's faith conviction in the veracity of the apparitions, that some of the sick in the world who are searching for a cure to their illness, are flocking every year in pilgrimage to the grotto at Lourdes, France. This is the grotto where the young Bernadette saw Our Lady of Lourdes. Miraculous cures have been noted to have occured in the grotto, but the more important miracles are the conversions of heart experienced by all who pray before Our Lady of Lourdes - Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

To be continued

The story of the other visionary of Mary (St. Juan Diego) and the visionary of Christ (St. Margaret Mary Alacoque), will be featured in the next blog post. After this story on the visionaries of Christ and Mary, will be the stories on the stigmatists of the Church: the two most popular being St. Francis of Assisi and St. Pio of Pietrelcina.

Memorial of Saints (December 12)

St. Jane Frances de Chantal was a widow with seven children before she met St. Francis de Sales. Francis de Sales wanted her to lead the religious community he wanted to found. So, in 1610 A.D., Francis and Jane Frances founded the Congregation of the visitation - a community for widows and young girls who want to live a religious life. Before her death, this community grew to more than sixty houses (died ca. 1641 A.D.).

Sts. Epimachus and Alexander were imprisoned, tortured and burned to death during Decius' persecution of Christians. Four women were also martyred together with Epimachus and Alexander: Ammonaria, Mercuria, Dionisia, and another unnamed woman martyr. All of these six Christians of the 3rd century were martyred at Alexandria, Egypt (died ca. 250 A.D.).

St. Finnian of Clonard was an Irishman who spent several years in Wales at monasteries led by St. Cadoc and St. Gildas. After living as a monk in Wales, he returned to Ireland and founded several monasteries, the most notable of which was Clonard in Meath. He is popularly called the "Teacher of Irish Saints" (died ca. 549 A.D.).

St. Corentin was a hermit in Britanny, before he was chosen bishop by its inhabitants. Reputed to have performed many miracles, he came to be known as the first bishop of Quimper, Brittany (died 6th century).

St. Edburga was an Englishwoman who succeeded St. Mildred as abbess of Minster-in-Thanet. She went on a pilgrimage to Rome and met St. Boniface - who came to be known as the "Apostle to Germany". After this encounter with St. Boniface, Edburga conducted a lot of correspondence with him. St. Edburga was also noted as a good calligrapher (died ca. 751 A.D.).

St. Vicelin was ordained by St. Norbert at Magdeburg. In 1126 A.D., he began missionary work among the Wends. He also founded many monasteries, and was very successful in his work. When pirates attacked his area, members of his community were able to escape. Vicelin eventually was named bishop of Staargard. However, he could not administer his diocese due to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa's opposition (died ca. 1154 A.D.).